Things to do in Barbados
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Barbados
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry peak season: low humidity, calm west coast, everything open, and the worst prices of the year.
Shoulder season and the smart money window: mostly dry early on, prices down 20 to 40 percent, sea warm.
Crop Over season: best culture, wettest heat, hot and humid with frequent short downpours.
Wet hurricane season: cheapest, quietest and riskiest, with some closures in September and October; November recovers.
What's on
- Barbados Sailing Week January
Sailing week opens the peak season event calendar.
- Holetown Festival February
Festival in Holetown on the west coast during peak season.
- Sandy Lane Gold Cup early March
The island's big race day at the Garrison Savannah.
- Oistins Fish Festival Easter
Festival weekend built around the Oistins fish market and grills.
- Barbados Reggae Festival late April
Reggae festival at the start of the shoulder season.
- Crop Over June to August
The island's defining festival of calypso tents, competitions, Bridgetown Market and ticketed fetes.
- Grand Kadooment Day first Monday of August
Costumed bands parade to soca, the culmination of Crop Over.
- Barbados Food and Rum Festival usually late October to November
Food and rum festival in the low season; check dates before planning around it.
- Independence Day 30 November
National independence celebrations as the island recovers into season.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Barbados
Carlisle Bay
Calm clear bay with six shallow shipwrecks and resident turtles, swimmable straight from Brownes and Pebbles beaches.
Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison
UNESCO listed colonial port walk linking Parliament, Heroes Square, the synagogue district and the Garrison Savannah.
Oistins Fish Fry
Friday night turns a working fish market into the island's biggest open air party of grills, music and picnic tables.
Harrison's Cave Eco-Adventure Park
Crystallised stream cave with stalactites, waterfalls and a huge Great Hall, toured on an accessible electric tram.
Bathsheba Beach
Atlantic coast of trade winds, surf and giant limestone boulders, made for walking, photos and lunch rather than swimming.
Mount Gay Rum Visitor Centre
The accessible Mount Gay experience near Bridgetown: rum history since 1703, blending, tastings and a rum shop style lunch.
Mount Gay Distillery
The enthusiast version at the working St. Lucy distillery: stills, wells, ageing bonds and a deeper tasting, half a day with the drive.
St. Nicholas Abbey
Jacobean great house from about 1658, still a working plantation and rum distillery, with a heritage steam railway.
Where to stay in Barbados
Holetown and the central west coast, St. James
best all round base for most visitors
Calm swimmable sea, sunset, the densest cluster of good restaurants on foot, and easy buses north and south.
Speightstown, St. Peter
best character base, return visitors and quieter couples
A real historic small town with beach bars, a serious restaurant and calmer, cheaper beaches than Holetown.
Worthing, Hastings and St. Lawrence Gap, Christ Church
best value and nightlife base
The south coast strip pairs good swimming and walkable restaurants with prices well below St. James.
Carlisle Bay and the Bridgetown edge, St. Michael
short stays, sailing and the bay itself
The island's best urban beach, walkable Garrison heritage and fast airport logistics, with a city edge feel.
Bathsheba and Tent Bay, east coast
a one or two night contrast, not a sole base
Atlantic sunrises, surf spectating and village life, but every swim and most dinners become a drive.
Crane, St. Philip
resort and beach base
Clifftop setting and pink sand beach suit resort centred trips; you will drive for independent dining.
Think twice about
- Central Bridgetown as a base
Almost no visitor accommodation, the centre empties after business hours, and Nelson Street and Wellington Street are flagged for vigilance at night.
- Isolated beaches at night, including Long Beach and Maycock's Bay
Unlit, unpopulated beaches are the one setting consistently flagged as risky after reported assaults and robberies.
- St. Lawrence Gap late at night
Caution rather than avoidance: drink spiking warnings, unlicensed taxi touting and petty crime concentrate here after midnight.
Best restaurants in Barbados
The Cliff Barbados
The island's famous special occasion table: a torch lit terrace on a coral cliff above the sea, book rail side weeks ahead.
Champers Restaurant
The south coast's best restaurant: waterside Caribbean seafood, and a set lunch that is the island's best value fine lunch.
The Tides Restaurant
West coast classic in a former colonial home on the Holetown waterfront, seafood led and romantic after dark.
Local & Co.
Farm to table kitchen in an 1800s beachfront warehouse, sourcing from local farmers and foragers, with a serious rum bar.
The Fish Pot
Small restaurant inside old fort walls by the water, serving the day's catch to hotel guests and islanders alike.
Café Luna
Rooftop Mediterranean Caribbean dining above Miami Beach, the south coast's date night default at sunset.
The Atlantis Historic Inn
The Sunday Bajan buffet on the Tent Bay veranda: flying fish, cou cou, pepperpot, breadfruit and macaroni pie.
Worthing Square Food Court
Court of food trucks and stalls around picnic tables, the south coast's best one stop casual dinner, rotis and cutters included.
Outdoor things to do in Barbados
Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruises
The best known large group catamaran: five hours up the west coast with turtle and wreck snorkel stops, lunch and open bar.
Silver Moon Catamaran Cruises
Small group luxury catamaran capped around twelve guests, with a better lunch and calmer decks than the big boats.
Folkestone Marine Park
Zoned marine reserve at Holetown with a marked snorkel trail over the reef, workable as a cheap shore entry.
Soup Bowl
Heavy world class right hand reef break at Bathsheba, for genuinely advanced surfers and great spectating for everyone else.
Barry's Surf Barbados
Long running surf school at gentle Freights Bay, the island's lesson beach, with group lessons and board hire.
Deep-sea fishing charters, Bridgetown
Shared and private boats from Bridgetown fish for wahoo, mahi mahi, tuna and barracuda, best roughly November to May.
Island Safari Barbados
Open back 4x4 day bouncing gully tracks and east coast viewpoints rental cars avoid, with lunch and a driver guide.
Harrison's Cave Eco-Adventure Park
Beyond the tram, the park's zipline and challenge course are the island's main aerial adventure product.
Best hotels in Barbados
Sandy Lane
The defining luxury hotel: pink coralstone, crescent beach, three golf courses and a vast spa.
Cobblers Cove
Small pink colonial style Relais and Chateaux hotel in tropical gardens, loved for its unshowy house party feel.
Fairmont Royal Pavilion
Classic Platinum Coast hotel where every room faces the sea, directly on the sand.
Coral Reef Club
Family run garden cottage elegance on the west coast, with a loyal repeat clientele and quiet money feel.
Little Good Harbour
Small whitewashed suite style luxury near Speightstown, with the much loved Fish Pot restaurant attached.
Bougainvillea Barbados
Well run south coast resort tier on a good beach near the Gap, dependable for families and couples.
Ocean Two Resort & Residences
South coast resort near St. Lawrence Gap, part of the dependable mid range tier on a good beach.
Butterfly Beach Hotel
Forum favourite value resort right on a good beach near Oistins, friendly and unpretentious, with self catering options.
Is Barbados expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | BBD 170 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | BBD 460 a person |
| Splurge | BBD 1,100 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Oistins Fish Fry: a few days ahead
- Harrison's Cave Eco-Adventure Park: a few days ahead
- Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruises: a few days ahead
- Silver Moon Catamaran Cruises: a few days ahead
- Deep-sea fishing charters, Bridgetown: a few days ahead
- Island Safari Barbados: a few days ahead
- Sandy Lane Country Club Golf Course: weeks ahead
- The Green Monkey Golf Course: months ahead
- For December to April book in order: accommodation, rental car, small group catamarans and top tee times, then top restaurants.
- Book The Cliff, Local & Co and the Atlantis Sunday buffet ahead in season, and Harrison's Cave on cruise heavy days.
- Crop Over fetes and Kadooment bands sell out and should be booked as early as accommodation.
Is Barbados safe?
- Do not swim on the east coast beyond Bathsheba's rock pools at low tide; Atlantic undertow and rip currents injure visitors every year.
- Do not wear visible gold jewellery in Bridgetown and do not leave valuables on the sand while swimming.
- Lock rental cars and villas; opportunistic burglary of holiday rentals is the most reported visitor crime.
- Police emergency number is 211; take care walking main roads at night, as pavements are inconsistent.
Barbados travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Cruise port Bridgetown pricing and touting carry the island's worst value; walk two streets or wait a day.
- Very expensive generic island tours are just the standard stops in a minibus; a licensed taxi day rate or rental car does it better.
- All inclusive isolation walls you off from Oistins, rum shops and Speightstown on an island that is easy to move around.
- Time share and free gift approaches: a polite no and keep walking.
Getting around Barbados: public transport and more
- Rent a car for the east coast, interior and north; driving is on the left and a visitor permit comes via the rental company.
- Buses and ZR vans are cheap and frequent, with a flat fare and Bridgetown as the hub, covering the south and west coasts densely.
- Taxis are unmetered, so agree the fare before you ride and use licensed taxis, especially late at night.
- Grantley Adams airport is about 15 to 20 minutes to Worthing and the Gap, and 30 to 45 minutes to Holetown and Speightstown.
Who Barbados suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Barbados your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store